The sky opened up, the clouds and the stars parted to reveal a complete blackness, like the opening jaws of some great beast. Lightning surged from the opening; so bright that Maria should not have been able to look directly up at it without her eyes turning to goo within their sockets.
The lightning tore through the sky. Maria’s muscles tightened—the bolt was coming right for her. Mostly out of reflex, she raised the sword into the air, not caring about the fact that she was sure to slip from the dragon and plummet however many hundreds of feet below to her death.
Then the bolt struck the tip of her sword with a dark blue explosion. In the explosion, she saw the face of the man whose voice she had heard earlier—Anwyn, the Dragon Slayer, smiling down upon her, his eyes the stars, his grin one half-moon.
As quick as he had come, he was gone, as the sky closed up again and the normal backdrop of distant galaxies filled her vision once more.
But the magic wasn’t gone. The blade rippled with blue fire, causing Maria’s hand to shake with power.
No! That cannot be. That is impossible, the dragon roared.
Maria, still on instinct, whirled the blade in her palm with a cool confidence brought to her by the magic. With a vicious downward thrust, she struck the dragon in the top of the head. The scales broke and shattered like glass, and her blade sank deep into the beast’s brains, all the way up to the hilt.
There was no blood, no gore, and no death.
Instead, a link was created between her brain and the dragon’s. She could feel Odarth fighting her, trying to resist, but the sword would not have it.
Suddenly, a barrage of images flowed through Maria’s brain. She was the dragon flying high, soaring through the clouds; she tasted her first bite of man flesh, so good; she breathed fire on a small, unsuspecting village and pillaged the charred remains of the men and women until her belly was close to bursting; she was navigating through the mountain peaks on a bright day, the darkness growing within her; she was—
Maria opened her eyes just as the beach came up to meet her. Gramps and the rest of her family put their arms up, shielding themselves from certain death.
“No!” Maria shouted, gripping the sword’s hilt with both hands and pulling back as if it were the joystick of flight simulating arcade game. The dragon roared as it tried to resist her, but there was no resisting Maria’s magic.
Wings angled back, and the two of them shot straight up into the air once more.
Holy shit, I’m in control. The dragon is mine. I’m a—
‘A Whisperer,’ that strange voice of Anwyn said, filling her mind with chilly confidence.
She repeated the word again slowly as the warm air near the lake whipped at her face and sent her hair back away from her brow: “Whisperer.”
Yes, I am a Dragon Whisperer.
Please, give up control, Odarth pleaded.
Maria didn’t answer. She leaned the hilt to the left and the dragon banked in that direction. Pulling the sword back, they rose higher and higher until they were above the clouds again, so close to the moons, Maria thought she could reach out and seize them.
Please! I can give you treasure, riches beyond your wildest imagination, O Great Whisperer. Please.
“No,” Maria said sternly. The air had grown cold again. She could see her breath pluming out in front of her as she eased the dragon’s flight to a slow glide. The clouds ran out below, and far, far away the burning town of Ashbourne sat, looking like a 3-D model.
I sense war on the horizon, the dragon said. War is coming and you’ll need all the help you can get, Maria.
“So you know my name.”
Yes, Maria, everyone will know your name… if you survive the onslaught.
Maria chuckled, a cold sound that carried over the whistling wind. “It’s amazing how enemies will speak your name once they realize they’ve been beaten.”
I am no enemy, Maria, the dragon urged. I am indebted to your service. I can be of help to you when the war comes, and I believe it is coming sooner than you realize.
“War has already come. Look below you. Look what you and your band of delusional followers did to that poor town.”
I was under a spell, Maria. I cannot be blamed for what the Dragon Lord called upon me to do. I was only following orders.
“So the vile men in charge of the concentration camps of World War II said.”
I know not of that, O Great and Powerful Maria.
“Flattery will get you nowhere.”
I am sorry. I mean no disrespect. I speak genuinely from my forked tongue. There is blood on the horizon—
“Yes, dragon blood,” Maria said.
No, I smell it in the air. Right now as we speak, the Arachnid queen searches for her lost king. Do you know where her king is?
“I’m sure I can guess.”
Right, you are a smart woman, Maria. The key for her to move from widow to reunited with her lover is in that satchel you wear around you. That music box. Yes, I sense its dark power. I sensed it even when I was asleep beneath the water, as my body regenerated. There are answers within that music box, but there are also questions. And some questions do not always have answers, do they, Maria?
“Don’t speak in riddles.” Maria found her curiosity growing about what exactly the Rogue Dragon Odarth knew. Perhaps her knowledge could be of some use to Maria. There was knowledge in a being that had been around for millennia, she knew.
I don’t mean to, Maria. And if I am, I apologize.
“There’s that flattery again. Don’t sugarcoat it. That kind of crap gets you nowhere with me.”
Fine, I shall be direct.
“Go on…”
I will offer you my services in exchange for my life.
In the distance, Maria could now see the mountains
